Daily Update: Site Update, Windows Phone Stuff, Much More

One of the big issues I have with the site post re-design is that the blog isn't propagated to the front page yet. It will be, eventually, but I feel there's some interesting stuff going on here, and most people who visit the main site will never know. Also problematic: I blog about Windows Phone regularly on my Windows Phone Secrets blog. It all needs to be aggregated together, based on the regular email I get from people telling me about something I already posted about or, in one annoying case (the Windows Phone data leak), something I actually started. With that in mind, here are some recent posts from the Windows Phone Secrets blog I think you should know about.

Speaking of things that need to change, once I get out from under my current mountain of work, I need to start regularly combing the site and correcting images and other issues that didn't make it through the site transition correctly. That will start this week.

Remember Gary Reback? Then you're old, or have a really good memory. This was one of the key players, on the Netscape side, during Microsoft's US antitrust trial. And he's back, this time fighting Google.

Anyone else disturbed by the lack of quality in the final four teams in the NFL playoffs--now the final two, and it's just pathetic--may nonetheless enjoy a new Bing collaboration with ESPN that highlights "champion quarterbacks and their decisive moments in life and football." It's called I Am a World Champion.

I believe The New York Times has written at least one article about Apple's Tim Cook since CEO Steve Jobs mysteriously went on another medical leave last week. That said, I find today's story, The Understudy Takes the Stage at Apple, very interesting. And I think there are some parallels to draw between this event (Cook's taking over day-to-day operations at Apple, expected to be permanent) and Steve Ballmer's ascension at Microsoft. And not to ruin the surprise, but this may be bad news for Apple. The simplest way to explain this is to simply provide the closing quote in the article: "He will not be the visionary, but that’s O.K. because there are other talented people around him." Sure. That's what they said about Ballmer too. Just a thought.

I railed against Microsoft's decision to add anti-web-tracking technology to IE 9, because it puts the onus of responsibility on the user. Today, the WSJ writes about Mozilla's plan to add similar Do Not Track functionality to its Firefox browser. And like Microsoft's approach, it looks pretty ineffective: It will be off by default and when enabled it requires sites to agree not to track. Wow.

Many people, including John Gruber, are trashing rumors of a Retina Display on the next iPad. Like Gruber, I would love to see it happen, but it looks like it's not. And yes, I just agreed with John Gruber.

The Android 3-based Motorola Xoom will apparently be available February 17, at Best Buy, for $700. There are only a handful of potentially credible iPad competitors. This is one of them. Maybe.

Discuss this Article 12

So you have been mentioning a lot about Microsoft not releasing updates for Windows Phone 7. I'm finally going to be able to upgrade next month to a Samsung Focus. Do you still recommend it , or should I wait?

I'd honestly hate to see another screen resolution introduced by Apple. Developing apps is difficult enough, and if they introduce some ungodly high-resolution that requires a redesign, app developers are going to scream. There are already 3 different screen resolutions. Why the iPad can't emulate the iPhone 4's resolution is inexcusable, not to mention not using it's own native keyboard when running iPhone apps. Adding another screen resolution is like adding another nail in the coffin for Universal apps.

Thanks for the update. Hopefully Microsoft will start releasing updates/fixes soon. I've been wanting to get rid of my iPhone for a while. Maybe some new devices will be announced within a month as well as updates finally being released from Microsoft.

Paul.. see your comment there. Boy what a bummer. Been holding off, guess I will hold off longer. Maybe they will announce some new handsets soon anyway. I agree, they could learn a lot from the way Xbox live iterates. I would like for it to be successful.

I reread Douglas Coupland's novel Microserfs recently.. There is a section of the book that foreshadows the current MS malaise:

"But then maybe Bill simply provides a focus for the company when no other focus can be found. I mean, if it weren't for the cult of Bill, this place would be deadsville -- like a great big office supply company."

God only knows what will happen without the cult of Steve. At least Apple will still have Jonathan Ive.

Holy crap. Gruber says about your post on Cook/Apple being like Ballmer/Microsoft

"I’m not linking to this to be inflammatory, and, I don’t think Thurrott posited this analogy to be inflammatory. There are some parallels: an operations executive succeeding a visionary product-oriented founder. But, I’d say Cook-as-Ballmer is pretty much the worst case scenario for Apple."

What I Use

Like many, I was hoping to see a new Lumia flagship before the end of 2014, and while I was pleasantly surprised in some ways by both the Lumia 735 and 830, neither offers the level of performance or best-in-market camera quality I had come to expected from Microsoft/Nokia's high-end devices. So I pulled the trigger on an unlocked Windows Phone flagship that will hopefully take me through at least the first half of this year. Or until Microsoft gets off its low-end fixation and satisfies the needs of its biggest fans....More

It's been a while since the last What I Use, but there haven't been many major changes since late last year: Surface Pro 3 has become my go-to travel companion, I've added a third cellphone line for testing Windows Phone, Android and iPhone side-by-side, and have rotated through some new tablets and other devices. We've also switched from FIOS to Comcast and added to our set-top box collection....More